I had a good run over at Saving Throw to Disbelieve, but *this* is home to me. I am Mandi Kaye, so it’s just not right for me to not be writing here (not that I was writing over at STtD – but it is chock full of YouTube-y goodness).

Check back soon and often to see what’s going on in the scary place that is my mind!

I love this site. I’ve been writing here (or not writing here) for more than 4 years. I have grown as a person and become incredibly self-aware as a result of the community that began here (and later fizzled).

But I am no longer the same person I was when I took up the mantle here.

When I began writing, this blog was called Imago Dei because that’s who and what I was. I wrote for God’s glory and to grow as a Christian in my faith.

When I chose to leave that life behind, I changed the name of this blog but it never felt quite right to write here from a worldview that wasn’t Christian. I tried, but you are all well aware that my writing has been less than lacking over the past year or more.

So, I am retiring this place. I’m leaving it up (for now), intact. I think it is important to keep it for myself so I know where I’m coming from.

I have a new blog, Saving Throw to Disbelieve. And anyone who wants to join me over there is more than welcome to come.

It’s been fun.

I’m reminded of the things that I am passionate about (food and books) and what I want to do with them. One day I will own my own bookstore/cafe.

There are several recipes I want to try now, including:

• Braised Cucumbers
• Boeuf Bourguignon (which I finally know how to pronounce now!)
• And even… Aspic. Okay, not really. I can’t imagine eating this.

I’m also filled with the urge to bone a duck. I don’t think that will be on my menu any time soon though.

But I do have a project in mind for 2010. One that combines the things that I love. This could be the start of something beautiful.

HT: Randy Thomas

It’s not done. Clearly the header/title is missing. I know! I’m waiting for the theme designer to get back to me with what font she used so I can set it up.

But man, I think this is my favorite theme that I’ve ever used. It’s so… pretty!

No.

You know why? Because my life’s focus now is… LIFE! Sure I have thoughts about things that are a lot different than they used to be, but I’m not trying to convince anybody else to think like me.

For more than 2 years I used this blog as my platform. To be heard. To try and make people think…like me. I don’t want to do that anymore. I may be an atheistic agnostic now (how’d ya like THAT one?), but my focus is not on that label at all. I don’t want to debunk Christianity. I want to live my life. I want to be me.

Now that doesn’t mean I’m not going to post stuff that I find interesting or things that I agree with or disagree with. I still will. But I’m not going to go all gung-ho and turn this into a pro-atheism or pro-skeptic blog.

It’s pro-Mandi, and that’s all!

I’ve been waiting for this for ages.

Now, I want a clean slate. I don’t want to delete all of my old content, or get a new domain. Is there a simple way to backup all of my archives, and remove them from public view? Or maybe have them still accessible, but not here? Does that even make sense?

BTW! I jumped on the Twitter bandwagon. Follow me at twitter.com/mandikaye

For the first time in… months… I’m posting this from work! Theoretically this means that my moratorium from blogging may be over.

I’m okay, even. Happy.

I just haven’t felt the need or desire to post about a lot of the stuff I previously would have posted about.

I’m not retiring this blog – yet.

I updated my sidebars with tons of links. Now you can see where I spend a lot of my time online (My Fav Sites), the sites I have in my feed reader (there are actually more than that, but those are the ones that update on a near daily basis), and another group of blogs that I recently stumbled on that are dedicated to raising awareness and acceptance for people who are larger (Big Girl Blogs).

Comments should now format properly, and the “Preview” button works again.